Boxerjam.com Shakes Cash Booty to Lure Advertiser Eyes

Boxerjam.com plans to begin a sweepstakes June 1 to promote its yet-to-be-launched Web site that will demonstrate ad creation and placement capabilities for advertisers.

The Boxerjam.com/demo site will give away $15,000 each month through September to advertisers and other visitors.

"It's a trade-based promotion, where they can come demo the site, see the games and the advertising [possibilities]," said Dan Capone, senior vice president of marketing at Boxerjam, Charlotteville, VA.

One advertising opportunity is its 15-second Flash-generated "Intermercials" that run between games played by site visitors. The rich media spots are about as close to television commercials as they can get, said Capone. The site can create the ads or place ads created by clients themselves.

To enter the sweepstakes, all the advertiser has to do is register. "They don't have to answer questions. There's no proof they're watching," said Capone. "We're a game show site. Everything plays up to a game show message. We figured we give away great prizes to consumers -- we should give great prizes to our advertisers as well."

The gaming space is crowded with competition coming from sites such as Uproar.com and Gamesville.com. While Boxerjam has pulled in a strong stable of clients including Ford, Intel and Chase Manhattan Bank, "We want more," said Capone.

To promote the contest, the site began a print campaign in trade publications such as Advertising Age, Ad Week and Red Herring. It also placed banner ads at AdAge.com and WSJ.com.

Boxerjam has more than 2.5 million unique players monthly. The average player visits the site for 45 minutes, according to Capone. The site is working to maintain these numbers by launching new consumer marketing campaigns as well as new games.

To draw traffic back to the site, Boxerjam plans to send a game in June to approximately 1 million e-mail addresses as part of a viral marketing campaign.

Last month, the company launched a new game called "Know it All." Soon, the site will unveil its "Matchmaker" feature, which will allow players to create personalized game rooms where they can play against family, friends and others. It also will include chat and instant messaging for the game's players.

"We have to consistently listen to what consumers want and consistently pump it out," said Capone.